Service fleets are responding to high fuel costs by using available technology

F u e l M a n age m e n t
Three service fleets are
responding to high fuel costs
by using available technology
to route drivers and
rethinking the old rules of
sales and service calls.
FBy Tariq Kamal
Finding ways to reduce fuel
spend will always be among a fleet
manager’s top priorities. While the
debate over alternative fuels and hybrid
powertrains rages on, there is a
less-scientific and often-overlooked
solution: Drive fewer miles.
Using readily available tools and
technology, three diverse service industry
fleets are limiting time spent
on the road through route consolidation,
vehicle right sizing, Internet estimating
and online mapping.
While these companies are national
and multinational, their franchisees
are local business owners
with a mandate to manage their work
vehicles as efficiently as possible.
These fuel-saving tips can be applied
to fleets large and small.
Offer same-day discounts
AdvantaClean Systems Inc. is a
Huntersville, N.C.-based provider of
in-home services including air duct
cleaning and mold removal as well
as emergency fire- and flood-damage
repair.
Jeff Dudan, CEO, estimates that
fuel can swing from 3 to 5 percent of
his franchisees’ per-vehicle revenue,
depending on pump prices. “Two
percent of your top line is a big piece
of your bottom line,” he says.
The company encourages technicians
to consolidate customer visits
by offering same-day service discounts.
For instance, if the customer
is scheduled for mold removal, the
technician will offer a price cut to
clean the customer’s dryer vents
instead of returning for a new visit
down the line.
Qualify first
AdvantaClean’s call-center staff is
taking steps to better qualify the job
Routing
Revolution
over the phone before handing it off ago that many on-site inspections of
Consolidate trips
Use digital maps
to the technician.
potential restoration jobs could be
Senior Helpers uses a home
There was a time when the primary
performed over the phone.
healthcare industry software
objective was to get to the caller’s
location in the hopes that meeting
face-to-face would give the tech a
better chance to get the work, Dudan
explains. “Now we try to weed
out jobs that aren’t really for us,” he
says, “but they might be for a referral
partner such as a waterproofing
buddy or pest control guy.”
Fibrenew’s telephone estimates
have racked up an 85 to 90 percent
success rate, resulting in countless
saved trips. “[That] saves a lot of
time,” Danforth says. “And less windshield
time means more money.”
Part of their success relies on photos
taken by clients’ digital cameras or
cell phones and sent via e-mail. The
program called Generations. The
software is integrated with Microsoft
MapPoint, which can create a
complete route schedule based on
a caregiver’s skill sets and clients’
locations. The program can e-mail
directions directly to a smartphone.
At Fibrenew, franchisees are routing
jobs using My Maps, a free, customizable
photographs give a more accurate, visual
feature of Google Maps.
representation of the problem and
Users can plan a whole week’s worth
also help technicians decide whether
of routes as well as add text, embed
they’ll need to move the repair to an
photos and videos and see maps from
offsite shop. This saves restorers from
a satellite view on Google Earth.
having to drive a large truck or van in
the chance they’d need to transport a
large piece of furniture.
Hand off the job
Traditionally, sales people are protective
of their territories. This is
changing in the new economy. Dudan
reports that technicians with
jobs in undefined sales territories are
now more willing to hand the work
off to another franchisee closer to the
job site.
Estimate on the phone
Fibrenew, a company specializing in
leather and plastic repair and restoration
with locations across the United
States and Canada, takes pre-qualification
one step further. The company’s
vice president of education,
Dan Danforth, realized several years
Reconfirm the call
Because Fibrenew schedules jobs
for its restorers in a tight, two-hour
window, the company reconfirms
each appointment the day before.
Though this seems like a given, the
initiative has saved countless wasted
trips — Danforth estimates that 15 to
20 percent of Fibrenew’s clients had
forgotten the appointment time.
The last thing Peter Ross, owner and
founder of Senior Helpers, wants to
do is create more travel expense for
the company’s 10,000 home caregivers
in North America and Australia
and raise prices for its elderly clients.
The goal is for Senior Helpers’
caregivers to make fewer trips. The
key part is working with clients and
their families, who pay a per-mile
charge, by avoiding scheduling doctor’s
appointments during rush hour
and consolidating non-essential errands
on a travel day.
“We’re not just going out and
driving across town today and then
across town tomorrow when
we could have done them both
at the same time,” Ross says.
Ross also discourages clients
from requesting long
rides, which result in an added
charge of $10 to $15 per fourhour
shift. “We’re trying to
avoid passing on anything we
can to the families,” Ross says.
Many of Fibrenew’s franchisees
have elected to tow trailers
as needed rather than drive
large trucks on every trip.
Nonetheless, digital maps are not
always accurate. Caroline Johannes,
a New Jersey-based Senior Helper
caregiver, reports any issues to the
home office. “We’re encouraged to
share things such as quicker shortcuts
or road closures for the next
caregiver,” she says.
Hitch a trailer
Danforth at Fibrenew has convinced
some franchisees to move from bigger
trucks and vans to smaller vehicles
and a trailer. The enclosed trailers
— similar to small U-Haul cargo
trailers — can be pulled by many
passenger car models and act as great
mobile billboards. For Fibrenew’s
purposes, a used $1,500 trailer will
do the job just fine, Danforth says.
Simple hitches run about $400.
Danforth says franchisees will
dedicate two or three days a month
to pickups and deliveries with the
trailer. “Why drive a big truck around
when you only need it 10 percent of
the time?” he asks. “The amount of
fuel you save is incredible.”
Right size your vehicle
While AdvantaClean technicians
need greater capacity than Fibrenew’s
specialists, they are also right sizing
vehicles to the task. Like Fibrenew,
some AdvantaClean technicians are
opting to use trailers for emergency
equipment, which they might only
need for a few trips per month.
Many franchisees are also moving
away from the traditional box truck,
heavy-duty pickup or cargo van to
more fuel-efficient vehicles such as
the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van.
The Sprinter lends the company a
modern image from a branding perspective,
Dudan says, and the highroof
model can double as a mobile
workstation. AdvantaClean will wire
the Sprinter so technicians can create
and print estimates and contracts on
site, saving trips back to a brick-andmortar
location.
“[Our franchisees] really don’t
have a staff,” says Dudan. “So basically,
[the Sprinter] is their office
when they start their businesses.” bf
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